"The Robing Room: CA State Judges

Hon. Michael D. Carter	See Rating Details
Judge Superior Court
Los Angeles County	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 2.7 - 10 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 1.0 - 2 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

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Only items marked with (*) are averaged into the displayed overall rating.

General Rating Criteria

* Temperament		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Scholarship		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Industriousness		(1=Not at all industrious,10=Highly industrious)
* Ability to Handle Complex Litigation		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Punctuality		(1=Chronically Late,10=Always on Time)
* General Ability to Handle Pre-Trial Matters		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
* General Ability as a Trial Judge		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
Flexibility In Scheduling		(1=Completely Inflexible,10=Very Flexible)

Criminal Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Criminal Litigation		(1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
General Inclination Regarding Bail		(1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
Involvement in Plea Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved, 10=Very Involved)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Pretrial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Trial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Sentencing Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)

Civil Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Civil Litigation		(1=Not at all Evenhanded,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
Involvement in Settlement Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved,10=Very Involved)
General Inclination		(1=Pro-defendant, 10=Pro-plaintiff)

Comments

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What others have said about Hon. Michael D. Carter

Comments

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA53921
Rating:2.1

Comments:
As the defense, Judge Carter tried to force me to reveal my hand beyond anything required and would scream (no exaggeration) at me for “surprises” when I resisted. Rebuttal evidence? Never heard of her. How DARE anyone impeach a prosecution witness. Per Judge Carter, the prosecution should’ve received every piece of impeachment in advance (so that they could prepare their lies accordingly).

One rule he came up with during the trial I had the misfortune of trying in front of him was that all video exhibits must be on CD. Alright, fair enough. I spend time going to Best Buy (no time for Amazon), burning CDs, bringing a portable disc player to court, etc.

At the end of trial, he and the prosecutor acted like I made that up and it was never required when I asked about seeing the prosecution’s discs. Gaslight city (family members of my client can confirm that I’m not insane). [Redacted by Ed.]

He and his staff also cannot use the technology in the courtroom and will just blame the attorneys. Um you have a very expensive A/V system paid for by taxpayers. Trust me, it’s not my $2,500 computer that works in all other courtrooms that is the problem; it’s you. The prosecution had problems too; the inept staff tried to help them, but still had trouble getting it working.

You know how some jackasses are also confident and combative? That’s this guy. Good luck citing case law; if it goes against what he wants to do, if’s basically irrelevant in his courtroom.

I have so much more to say but I don’t want to give personally identifying details. But as a final tip, if you’re a defendant, and your defense attorney is happy to be in front of this guy, RUN from both of them.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA45078
Rating:1.0

Comments:
The bias shown in his courtroom is horrible and he should be removed from the bench. He is very accommodating to the jury but he demonstrates his bias in his cases and his decisions in sidebars where the jury can’t hear. He is a disgrace to our judiciary system. He needs to be removed!

Other

Comment #: CA42145
Rating:2.0

Comments:
Judge displays a very disrespectful manner towards defense attorney. Very biased towards DA. Does not show the same respect to male attorneys than he does female attorneys. Very bad temperament and clearly favors the DA.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA33504
Rating:Not Rated
Comments:
This is a great judge.He didn't allow the district attorney to play games with me after it was proven that the district attorneys peoples witness was the one who committed the crime that the district attorney tried to charge me.I was able to sue the district attorney and the county of Los Angeles government for Malicious Prosecution and not putting afro american people on my jury trial...He needs to analyze when the district attorneys be having black criminal defendants and when they try not to use black people in the jury selection.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA33425
Rating:1.0

Comments:
An absolute idiot.
There is a running statement about Carter - if he can become a judge than you clearly do not need to be intelligent or knowledgeable.
I've been in front of him.many times and he loves to hear his own voice and he loves to badger defense attorneys on every possible issue. The most arrogant, yet ignorant judge you will be in front of. Avoid him, if you can.

Prosecutor

Comment #: CA17217
Rating:4.6

Comments:
Clearly Biased pro defense. Horrible temperament. Ignorance of the law. prejudice against prosecutions case.

Probation or Pretrial Officer

Comment #: CA8455
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I recently had this Judge's clerk call me with regard to a Defendant's Pre-Sentencing Report. She made it clear that Judge Carter wanted this person to 'do some real time'.

The individual is a first time offender on a single non violent and non drug related charge. Everything in our directives would dictate supervised probation, restitution, and community service at minimum levels.

I mentioned the clerks directive to my SDPO here in Santa Monica and all he said was 'give the Judge what he wants'.

Unfortunately, there is no other method of making this known...so, here it is. This Judge is dangerous and work directly against the Rule of Law as I understand it.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA8384
Rating:1.4

Comments:
This Judge is literally on a runaway path. He managed to avoid black letter law, precident, and Court Rules religiously. He gets really creative at sentencing time. The Bar needs to take a closer look at this individual.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA8212
Rating:2.1

Comments:
The worst judge I have ever been before.
Ignorant of the law.
Pro prosecution.
Biased against the defense.
Avoid him at all costs.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA8034
Rating:6.4

Comments:
I have had no pretrial experience with Judge Carter, but did have a jury trial before him. Judge Carter was not involved in settlement discussions.

As I waited for that trial to commence, I watched him justly rule in favor of the defense on a PC 1538.5 motion in a felony marijuana transportation case.

In my case, the jury hung 7-5 for the defense and Judge Carter dismissed it PC 1385 after the People moved for retrial.

I was especially pleased that Judge Carter was willing to lambast the prosecution on the record (though out of the jury's presence) for failing to properly work up the case which bordered on prosecutorial misconduct.

I was disappointed that Judge Carter elected not to sequester a People's witness who was not done testifying before the lunch break despite my concern the witness would use the break to unfairly confer. Other than that, I found Judge Carter to be reasonable and even handed.

Prosecutor

Comment #: CA556
Rating:1.5

Comments:
CA248 nailed it better than I ever could.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA248
Rating:1.9

Comments:
If he has any stars it is only because I could not give him less than an 8 for punctuality. He is a terrible judge. He is not bright. Legal concepts, even the most simple ones, are lost on him. He only understands how to rule, illogically at best, in such a way as to hurt a criminal defendant, no matter what the crime. He takes cases personally. He gets very emotional (angry) when dealing with cases. With attorneys he finds attractive (apparently I am one of them) he is flirtatious and invades personal space and still shows bias and vengeance against our clients when handling our cases. He is an embarrassment to the bench. He should be disbarred for terrible judicial temperament, lack of scholarship, and lack of neutrality.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: CA147
Rating:4.9

Comments:
Unless defense counsel is a female he finds attractive, Carter is ruthless in his support of the prosecution.